Breaking Basics
by SallySorrell
Summary: Quite a few laws have been broken over seven days... Oneshots on these highlights, mentions plenty of characters. T for language.
1. The Ten Commandments

"**You shall have no gods before Me"**

_What the hell was I thinking?_

Kate Warner desperately wanted to take a step backward. But Jack's arm was there, nudging her in the opposite direction.

_This must go against my morals. I mean, I'm a Christian, aren't I?_

Jack wrapped the cloth around her face, covering everything but her eyes. Sure, she looked convincing enough, considering the limited time they had for preparation.

He shoved her out of the fenced area, and she walked toward the mosque.

"**You shall not make yourself any carved image"**

Tony dug his pocketknife into the wooden crate, searching for anything.

"Cover me _now_!" Jack called, from somewhere to his right.

"I'm empty, Jack."

"Damn it, do something Tony, they're leaving now!"

Tony sliced several rushed shards of wood from the box.

"Go Jack. I've got'cha."

He threw the sticks as if they were darts. Not terribly effective, but enough for Jack. He didn't need much help.

After a minute, Jack contacted Tony via phone.

"Alright Tony, I've got the truck's plate number, but they're moving to the east."

"Go."

"The plate is California 858-A9931. They're leaving toward the east exit. There's another loading bay there. If we get a team in through the west entrance, we can cut them off. Call the FBI, ask for Renee Walker, and get me a team. That's our only chance of stopping this thing..."

"Fine."

Tony scratched these details onto the remnants of the crate and studied them before calling the FBI.

"**You shall not take the Lord's name in vain"**

Jack watched, helpless, as the chopper spun away from him.

"Land it!" He shouted, waving his arms. There was no way that the pilot heard him.

Jack ran a few paces after it, one hand pressed against his heart as a precaution.

"Land the damn chopper! What the hell are you doing?"

The helicopter moved further and faster away from the roof, leaving Jack panting and alone.

"God damn it!" he exclaimed, and pulled his phone from his pocket.

"**Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy"**

Jack had been through many terrible, _terrible_ days. Not all in a row, thankfully, but still.

Today was going to be a nice day off. He'd worked a bit of overtime the night before, doing security for one of District's meetings.

Yes, a nice, peaceful Sunday. He shut his eyes as he fell to the couch in his living room.

His phone rang.

"This is Bauer." he said, sighing. His eyes remained closed.

"Jack... it's Tony. We've got a situation."

"What is it?"

"A bomb threat. I need you here, now."

"**Honor thy father and thy mother"**

"Shut up, Graem!" Jack shouted. He held up a ream of plastic wrapping in one hand, and studied his brother.

"Jack, don't, don't... don't do it!"

The door was kicked in. Phillip Bauer entered, toting a gun.

"Stay out of this." Jack warned.

His father inched closer, drawing his weapon.

Jack pulled his out as well, and shot three rounds into Phillip's lower leg. He collapsed to the ground, shouting.

"**You shall not murder"**

"Shoot him!" Jack yelled to his walkie-talkie.

Syad Ali let out a long, high-pitched wail of disapproval.

Both men watched, one in terror, as a fuzzy picture appeared on the screen. A masked man walked into the frame, holding his gun to the air. Then, he pointed it toward a small boy, who was obviously weeping.

A single shot was fired. The boy and the chair he was tied to hit the ground, instantly surrounded by a cavernous pool of blood.

"You killed my boy!" Ali yelled to Jack, over and over.

Jack sat, perfectly content.

"**You shall not commit adultery"**

Nina waited on the pool-deck, her legs submerged in the cool water.

Somewhere, a few miles away, Teri was sitting, across from Kim. They were eating dinner. Without him.

Nina looked to the water, blinking repeatedly, as if that would clear things up.

"Hey." A low voice said from behind her. Jack caught her around the waist, and sat down beside her.

She greeted him with a deep kiss.

"Nice hotel isn't it?" she asked after a minute.

"Yah, baby, Thanks for the reservations..."

His lips traveled swiftly down her neck.

"How's your wife?" She inquired slyly, just for fun.

"**You shall not steal"**

Kim folded over, breathing sharply.

She'd lived through quite a bit in the last hour. Kidnapping, a car crash, jail.

"I'll call for help, Miguel. You'll be okay. I promise... I promise..." she reached for the injured officer, and removed his two-way radio from its clip.

Miguel struggled to push her arm down.

"Don't. They'll be looking for you."

"But... you need help!"

"Take the walkie-talkie and go. I'll be okay. They'll find the wreck soon enough."

Kim kept the radio in her shaking hand, and placed a gentle kiss on Miguel's forehead.

She took the officer's gun from its holster, and, grasping both stolen items, she ran from the highway.

"**You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"**

"Chloe, it's going to the lab. You're going to Holding."

"No!" she stood up, "You can't start doing tests on _her_, Ryan!"

"You need to start talking to me, Chloe. This is not a daycare; I don't care if you're a ranking employee!"

"She isn't my daughter..."

"Well, Chloe, I assumed that, with the way you've been protecting her. Call her dad, and have her taken home. Or _anywhere_ but here. She does qualify as unauthorized personnel. This will be added to your personal file as well. I applaud you for being able to hide it."

"She... She's just a _baby_!"

"Get your child _out_ of here, Chloe. That's an order."

"She isn't my child!"

"Somehow I don't believe you."

"**You shall not covet your neighbor's possessions"**

"Come on, Tony... I'd hate to be sitting here, later tonight, knowing I could've helped."

"We've got a job to get to in..." he checked his watch, "Half an hour."

"I'm going."

"Michelle, please." He got up from his chair, "They've got more than enough people at CTU. They don't need us. Our clients _need_ us, okay? They're _waiting_ for us."

She hesitated at the front door, brushing a hand against her forehead.

"They have information... even if we don't stay, we should at least find out if this compromises our work..."

"No, we shouldn't. We'll be fine, Michelle, I promise you. We're not going anywhere."

"I want to know what's going on, and I want a job in stopping it."

She walked out the door, to Tony's protest.


	2. Classroom Rules

_"**Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"**_

"You're gonna kill him, man. Give it a minute." Some nameless henchman explained.

Jack's arms were tied, as he hung, breathless, from a dim ceiling.

"The chip, Jack?" this was the hundredth time the question had been raised.

Another shocking current met his chest. Blood was smeared across the majority of his body. A few new scars and dents had been added to his collection. He groaned as he shook. His head moved rapidly as he tried to distract himself from obvious pain.

As the shocking stopped, Jack's head rolled forward, and his eyes slammed shut.

"Wake him up."

_"**Keep your hands to yourself"**_

"Mrs. Palmer?" Jack Bauer shouted from his post.

He ran to her side, and searched the room for the shadow he'd seen moments before.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Agent Bauer? I should ask you the same thing."

To follow protocol, his hands gravitated to her shoulders. He patted them, removed her coat, and patted some more. His hands trailed down her blouse, the back, then the front.

"For God's sake, Jack! I'm not carrying a weapon."

He ignored her, like most people learned to do, and continued his work.

_"**Share"**_

"Do you have some way to shut her up that I'm not thinking of…?"

Jack had an answer to everything. It was just rarely spoken.

The agent beside him settled back into a sitting position against the bench. Jack studied the prisoner opposite him. She returned the favor.

Giving her a final glare, Jack looked at the man next to him. He passed the other agent a bottle of water, putting on a fake smile.

It was opened with a sigh of relief. The agent took a few sips, before collapsing to the floor of the van.

Nina's eyes widened, as Jack offered a drink to her.

_"**Don't copy someone else's work"**_

"What should I do with the files?" Edgar asked, tapping away at his keyboard.

"You've got the files?" this was a disbelieving Tony.

"Well, they're encrypted… I don't think I can open all of them…"

"I'll get Chloe on it."

Tony rested an arm on the man's desk.

"She can open them?"

"Doesn't need to; she can open up the _FBI._ We can just tap their copies."

_"**Don't be a distraction"**_

"I don't want my daughter involved."

"Come on, Agent Bauer. She's the closest match we have to Saunders."

"She has no field training."

"Yes I do!" Kim threw in, approaching a pout.

"She's not doing it."

Kim looked at her dad, attempting to further her case.

"She won't be in any danger, Agent Bauer. We just need her to keep Saunders's attention."

The agent in front of them flipped through a folder, then handed it to Jack.

"She's our only chance at this, Jack. She's just our diversion, okay? If she's in any trouble, I give you full permission to go in."

Jack wasn't happy.

"Fine."

_"**Treat others with respect"**_

Kim regretted nothing as she walked to her back door, a backpack dangling from her shoulder.

"You think she'll be okay?"

"She'll stay here, Jack. Don't you trust her?"

"No, Teri. Not right now, I don't."

Kim pushed the door open, feeling uneasy now. What? Her own father didn't trust her?

Well, that's what she got for sneaking around behind him. And her mother! Now, Kim shed a tear. But it was too late; she was already out the door.

_"**Follow directions"**_

"Ramon Salazar is to be released within the next _six hours_, or the virus will be _unleashed_."

The digital recording ended with that promise. Tony sat up, and looked at his coworkers.

"That's all we've got?"

Some of them nodded.

"What are our options?"

"Well," Michelle Dessler began, brushing a curl of hair from her face, "We've worked out a couple scenarios. The President _will not_ back Salazar's release."

"So we need to find this threat and stop it within the six hours?"

More workers nodded, Michelle in particular.

Upstairs, Jack sat in front of his computer, though he stared at the soft flesh of his arm. As he held a needle close to his skin, the beginnings of a plan spun around deep inside of him.

A plan for Ramon Salazar's release.

_"**Come prepared"**_

"What channels do we have open to Europe?" the Agent in Charge asked, sitting down in The Conference Room.

"We don't have anything open with Europe right now… other than our trade we pick up from the UN." Agent Tony Almeida said.

"That's all we've got? I gave you all a half hour's notice to get to this meeting with everything you could find. Almeida, get me a feed to Europe _now_."

"I would… sir. But I'm not in charge of the data overseas." He glared at the woman seated beside him. Not intentionally.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd be priority." Michelle, the woman in question, answered.

"They're priority _one_. Everybody else, be back in this room in twenty minutes, with _everything_. "

_"**Mind your own business"**_

"What have you been looking at, Ryan?!?" Jack demanded, entering his office.

"I don't answer to you, Jack."

"What have you been looking at? And I need specifics! What files have you opened within the last two hours?"

"This concerns the country's safety, Ryan. I need to know. _Now_."

"Just a bit of digging. Same as the analysts."

Jack wasn't convinced. Proof, compliments of Chloe, told him otherwise.

* * *

**Author's Note: Any favorites so far? In either chapter...? Should I continue this? Any thoughts at all are greatly appreciated!**

~Sally Sorrell


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